by Matt Rogers
Chapter 37
The world had gone insane. He was watching in person because events were straying way off course. Humans were acting like themselves and making a complete mess of a perfectly logical situation.
“Hello, everybody, this is Nick Price with the Channel Five News at Five till Five, the only news to start before the hour arrives. Thank you for tuning in. We have some dramatic developments occurring this very moment. We are now going live to Tim Tidbit, our award winning on-top-of-it-all reporter. Tim, are you there?”
The camera changed scenery, revealing the United Nations building but where a reporter was to be only air was seen.
“Tim, can you hear me?”
A slight shuffling could be heard and suddenly, as if arriving to save the day was the image of Wally Thornburg.
“Hiya, Nick! Sorry about the confusion but we seem to have gotten our assignments mixed up.”
The control room was in a tizzy because they’d planned for the good-looking reporter of national female longing not the pot-bellied journalist from the Great White Way up north. But the professionals they were got down to the brass tacks of programming and pushed a button which altered the scene back to the anchorman of yesteryear.
“Well, okay, Wally. Can you tell us what’s happening at the United Nations?”
“Uh-huh, sure can!”
The camera was lucky enough not to receive the order of changing screens so the anchorman remained, sitting in anticipation of an explanation which apparently needed more urging.
“Um… Wally?”
“Oh! Oh, you mean now?”
“Yes, Wally, if you’d be so kind I’m sure our viewing audience is waiting on pins and needles to hear your report.”
The scene shifted and the portly fellow with a nose for news and booze once again reported with his heart.
“Well, Nick, it would appear we’ve really crossed a line in the sand so to speak.”
“The sand?”
“Yep! The sand, Nick. Apparently when we left the beaches of Florida and sent our armada to blockade Cuba the Iron Curtain finally fell. Unfortunately for us it fell on the side of the communist regime and both Russia and China have threatened nuclear war if we don’t pull our ships back.”
The control room wisely decided to stay with the gossipy man for he seemed to be on a roll.
“Both Russia and China are siding with Cuba?”
“Yep, Nick, both of them! And that’s not all!”
“There’s more?”
“You betcha there’s more, Nick! At about the same time those two nations made their threats the World Court came down with their opinion on Mexico.”
The screen changed to reveal the anchor in a state of disbelief.
“What did the Court say?”
The picture changed and Wally’s eager-beaver eyes went wide with anticipated shock through oratory measures.
“They sided with Mexico, Nick. They said Texas is squatting on their land and must either pay up for past rent due or vacate the premises.”
The control room was in full manic mode as buttons, levers and sometimes even knobs were pushed, pulled and twisted in a frenzied attempt to stay on top of the game and provide round the clock exposure to events shaping the world they were in that day.
“Texas is being evicted?”
“Yep! They’ve got thirty days to get their possessions in order unless they decide to pay the balance due instead.”
“What does the Court say they owe?”
“What Mexico asked for; twenty billion pesos.”
“Pesos?”
“Yep, it appears they made a little mistake and asked for their currency instead of dollars. It doesn’t really matter, though, because I have it on great authority the great state of Texas is going to refuse to pay anything. I spoke with the Governor of Texas, a Mister Austin Travis who said and I quote “We aint paying nobody nothing.”
The picture altered to give relieve from overweight, overstimulated Wally and again rested on the rugged shoulders of the anchor who held the public’s trust if not their admiration.
“Thank you very much, Wally.”
“You’re gosh-darned welcome, Nick!”
The grave expression on the anchorman’s face said it all. It was necessary because someone in the control room pushed the wrong button and muted the man’s microphone.
Nat was exceedingly frustrated with the events. He wasn’t sure if the Vampires had expected such a response and decided to extricate himself from the building housing the representatives of the world who were at that moment attempting to dismantle the very nation the building was located on. As he finally cleared security he felt the change. He was unable to do so while inside the structure for even though they were woefully behind in technological advancements they were at least able to electronically dampen all but the most sophisticated of Heaven’s bugs at the place where the world met. Nat had requested the next generation of spying devices but since he could pretty much listen in on every other place of importance it was deemed to be of a slightly less intricate importance and he was told to get by with what he had for the moment. What he had at that moment was a sinking sensation due to a lack of feeling. His sensors were not picking up what they were designed to keep track of. The LeTorque were on the loose.
He was not in a happy state of mind. While it did prove Johnny had finally decided to rejoin his family it was not exactly beneficial to the Alien assigned to monitor the situation. He couldn’t. Johnny masked their chemical makeup and he’d need to use technological equipment or, worse yet, his own feet to find the group. He needed answers and he needed them fast. Was this part of the plan? Did Trudy take into account the other nations lining up against America in a free for all of litigation over original land management? Were the Vampires even aware of the impending developments? He was in quite the mood when he was suddenly accosted by one of the representatives from Germany.
“Hello, Nat, nice day isn’t it?”
Herr Mikael Worstincamp was one of the most loathed men of his generation. He was consistently insulting others through advancement of his own country’s achievements. There was hardly a day which went by when he didn’t somehow manage to sneak in some kind of automotive story in the hopes of once again showing German manufacturing of their sleek and elegant vehicles to be of a better quality than most. It wouldn’t have been so bad if he weren’t also such a stuffed shirt. The man insisted on being called by his title; Baron Mikael Worstincamp. Since Nat was normally a cordial guest he allowed the man the pleasure from time to time but not on that day. On that day he was in a hurry to find Superior beings in the hopes their plans of Human war had not gone a bit too far and involved the complete destruction of the world instead.
“I don’t see what’s so good about it, Mikael.”
The representative was not ignorant of the lack of respect shown by the security expert but he wasn’t one to make too much of it. Besides, the man in front of him had been utterly invaluable to him and his country after the war waged by the madman in the mustache almost had their entire race removed from the world’s roll-call. Nat had argued for restraint. He had implored the victors to take it a little easy on those who would vie for world supremacy because he actually had a soft spot in his heart for the vanquished. He understood the nationalism which sprung from the hearts and minds of those who fought for love of country because he was in the midst of it himself. Now, his country no longer claimed specific areas as theirs but the gulf wasn’t so hard to see across. His people were waging a war against the others and if it meant a few innocents had to get thrown to the Wolves then who was he to say no? He was working on a much grander scale than the German’s of the past but the underlying reasoning was of relative value. One peoples under God. It didn’t say ‘all’ peoples, it said ‘one’.
“I believe the United States is reaping more than what she thought she’d sown.”
He really didn’t understand the man. Actually he didn
’t understand man as a whole. Some were to the point while others were evasive. It came down to individualizing an entire species and Nat found it difficult and horrendously time-consuming. The only good thing about representatives, they were always willing to hear themselves speak.
“Do you think war will break out?”
The man paused for a second to allow for dramatic effect and then spoke.
“I believe war is always inevitable. I believe it strengthens the spirit and thins the herd. If I were a betting man I’d put my money down on a nice little place located somewhere in the southern waters near Fiji and wait for the world to blow itself to pieces.”
The man actually said it with a smile. It’s what was so confounding to the Monitor. Humans were not Superior beings. They had fear instilled inside their tiny little brains and were therefore supposed to act in accordance with the central processing unit. But some of them didn’t. Some of them seemed to relish fear, to seek it out, and to Nat the mystery of Human inconsistency was one he wished to avoid.
“You believe they will actually fire their nuclear weapons?”
Once again the German paused for effect before answering the direct question.
“It won’t actually be in their hands. My goodness, for a security expert you’re not actually caught up to date on all the facts, are you?”
“Are you talking about the Doomsday Scenario?”
“Yes, the very one.”
“But that’s not actually real. It was just for bluff.”
The truth, as Nat learned, was even stranger than fiction for the scenario he thought could never come into play was actually up and running. It came about because everyone knew how to play poker, everyone had learned to bluff and a necessary amount of force was needed to instill fact into the situation. During the height of the Cold War the nuclear age came to light and threats were made on all sides. In every such instance half the people playing the game believed the other half were bluffing so a deal was struck whereby if certain parameters were crossed, if unique circumstances occurred then the bluff was off the table. Automated response came online and changed everyone’s opinion on the matter. No longer was a leader at the helm, a computer program was running the show. If certain tripwires were breached then circuits would fire and the world would finally encounter the true measure of global warming.
“My God! Are you people insane?”
The German looked at Nat as if the man himself were a few belfry bats short of a coven. He was stunned by the man’s reaction because he’d known Nat for quite some time and had never seen him act as though he didn’t have knowledge on a subject.
“Are you saying you didn’t know about the Doomsday Scenario?”
“No, I’m saying I didn’t believe people would be stupid enough to hand the world over to autonomous machines! What kind of imbecile would make such a decision?”
The Baron laughed out loud for he knew exactly the imbeciles in question and sadly had a hard time disagreeing with his irate security-friend expert. The people really had been an exceptionally well-connected individuals but they were still imbeciles at heart.
“Well, there’s not much we can do about it now. It appears to be running its own course.”
As if on cue the representative’s phone rang and he answered.
“Oh! Oh my!” the Baron said into the handheld device designed to eliminate alone-time.
“What is it?” Nat asked as he noticed quite a few fellow representatives also taking phone calls and sprinting back into the building.
“It appears to be our lucky day. The Americans have decided to double down on their threat. They just sent a force into Cuba and right now are holding the Communist leader. I’ve got to head back inside, are you coming?” he asked as he set off.
Nat was unsure of what to do. Things were not only spiraling out of control they were doing so in such a rapid manner he needed time to think. He was sure there was some way out of the situation. They only needed a little space to get their heads together and decide not to end the world. He was sure of it. How could they not do otherwise? The only way forward was to go backward. They needed to cool off and readjust their lenses. He was positive if he could get the right players together he could talk some sense into their primitive cortexes and stop all the nonsense so his Wolves could fight and clan supremacy could begin. He was determined of one thing, though; if and when the Hoard arrived and his Superior soldiers wiped them off the Earth he was going to eliminate the real threat once and for all. The Humans could not be allowed to threaten Heavenly interests. He made a decision and went inside to see what all the fuss was about.
